4. Charlie
1552 Words
The suite door was ajar.
That should have been the first sign. Or well...rather the fourth. Fifth? I can't keep track.
Hunter had left me alone, let me bask in the glow of the moon. It was too cold to go outside, but I wanted to feel it across my skin. Something had called out to me tonight, and I wanted to answer. I still didn't believe in fate, I didn't believe in miracles. But I believed in my intuition. It was telling me that something amazing was going to happen.
Warm light spilled into the hallway, gold and inviting, and for one foolish second I thought, he did it.
The room glowed with candles. Rose petals scattered across the floor in a way that was just a little too deliberate. Champagne chilled in a silver bucket beside the window. There was music playing softly from where I couldn't see.
My heart flipped.
I stepped inside, my breath caught halfway between hope and dread.
"Hunter?" I called out.
The bedroom door was open.
I didn't hear voices at first. Just movement. A low laugh. One that wasn't his.
My stomach dropped so fast that it's how I imagined falling through ice to be.
I crossed the room slowly, each step heavy, unreal. The world narrowed to the doorway, to the shape of two bodies on the bed. Hunter's broad back, bare and familiar. And a woman beneath him. Blonde hair splayed across the pillows.
My pillows.
She laughed again, breathless, fingers digging into his shoulders.
"Hunter?" My voice came out thin. Breakable.
He froze.
Time stretched, elastic and cruel. Then, he turned.
For a breath, his face like blank. No guilt. No shock. Just taking me in, standing there.
"Charlie," he said. Like my presence was in inconvenience.
I stood there, rooted to the spot, staring at the man I'd loved for ten years as if there was a stranger wearing his skin. The woman scrambled for the sheet, eyes wide, already pulling away from him.
Laura. His assistant. Of course.
"You said she'd be busy," she hissed.
"I was," I said faintly. It all made sense now. The late nights at the office. The onslaught of texts. The way he was being weird around me all day. "I can't believe this."
Hunter swung his legs off the bed, standing, utterly naked and not at all concerned. "This isn't what it looks like."
I laughed. It was broken and sharp. "Really? It's not what it looks like? It looks like you were just inside another woman, Hunter. Don't insult me on top of everything else."
His jaw tightened. "You weren't supposed to see this."
That was it. That was the line.
"You're not even pretending."
He scoffed. "You've been impossible lately. Cold. Distant. Always analyzing. Always waiting for something to go wrong."
"You told me to trust you," I said, my voice breaking. "I thought-"
"Exactly," he snapped. "You thought. You overthought. You sucked the joy out of everything."
Laura edged towards the door, clutching her dress. Smart.
"Get out," I hissed at her.
She didn't need to be told twice.
The door shut behind her, and suddenly it was just Hunter and me. Ten years collapsed into candlelight and rose petals that now looked ridiculous. Like they were mocking me for being so f*****g stupid.
"You planned this," I said, looking around the room. "All of it."
Hunter dragged a hand through his hair in irritation. "I planned a future. But you? You make it feel unbearable."
Something inside me cracked.
"You cheated on me. And you're blaming me?"
He stepped closer. Too close. "If you'd been easier to love-"
"Don't you dare put this on me, Hunter."
"All you do is work!" His voice grew loud, crowding me in. "Work. Work. Work. And nag. And b***h at me. Hunter do this. Hunter do that. Hunter I want to go away for Christmas."
"What does that have to do with the fact you were cheating on me?" I pressed. "Am I that horrible? A wife who works hard. A wife who never once has denied you, or your aspirations."
Hunter reached into his pants pocket on the floor and threw something at me. I caught it instinctively. It was a small, black box. Smooth and shiny. Only big enough for one thing.
"No," I heard myself say.
"What?" His voice echoed, irritated.
"No."
"I went to all this effort and you're deciding to be ungrateful? You f*****g b***h!"
The slap came before I could think.
Pain exploded across my cheek, fire hot and tingling. I staggered back, barely staying upright. The room tilted.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Hunter stared at his own hand like I'd betrayed him. Then his mouth twisted into a cruel smirk.
"See?" He said accusingly. "This is what you do. You push people."
Fear flooded me, cold and absolute.
I turned and ran.
I didn't grab my coat. Didn't grab my phone. I burst into the hallway, sprinting as fast as I could in my low heels. My heart hammered so fast it hurt. Tears blurred my vision. The world narrowed to escape. To finding safety.
The lodge opened around me, vast and bright and suddenly so hostile. Guests turned. Someone gasped. I didn't stop.
"Charlie!" Hunter's voice echoed behind me. "Don't be dramatic!"
I hit the foyer like a storm, nearly slipping on the marble as cold air drifted through the open door.
"Please," I sobbed, my voice breaking. "Someone. Anyone! A car! I need a car out of here!"
"Easy," a deep voice called. "I'll get you out of here. You're safe."
I refused to look at the voice. I shook my head, hiccups escaping. "No! They-they can't...I just...I need-"
The staff froze as Hunter grabbed my arm.
I screamed.
"Let her go," his voice cut through the chaos.
Deep. Commanding. Absolute.
Hunter released me instinctively.
I stumbled forward, nearly collapsing, and felt strong, steady hands catch me before I hit the floor.
"I've got you," he said quietly.
I looked up then, into dark eyes framed by sharp features and a fury that was barely kept leashed. He was tall, broad, immaculately composed in a way that felt dangerous.
"Get your hands off of her," Hunter snapped. "This is a private matter."
The man didn't even look at him.
He gazed down at me, his deep, dark eyes looking through the tears and hiccups. Looking into my soul.
"This is no longer a private matter," he said, almost to me, before flicking his eyes over my head. "It stopped being a private matter when it entered the foyer."
"This is bullshit," Hunter said seething. "I'm taking my girlfriend back to our room."
"No you're not. She's under my protection," tall, dark and handsome said calmly. "You will step back."
Hunter laughed. It was ugly and harsh. "And who the hell are you to tell me what to do? Do you know who I am?"
The man glared at him over my head. I couldn't keep my eyes off of him.
"I own this lodge," he said, voice like gravel. "And you are done."
I turned now, watching as Hunter puffed up, his rage flaring. "She's my girlfriend."
The man's gaze flicked to me, gentle for just a fraction of a second. "Not anymore."
Hunter lunged.
He moved faster than I could track. The stranger's hand caught Hunter's wrist, twisting until he cried out. Another shove sent him crashing into a wooden pillar.
"Touch her again," he said quietly, "and you will leave this mountain in pieces."
Silence fell, heavy and charged.
Hunter scrambled to his feet, face flushed with humiliation and fury. I'd never seen him lose before. "You think you can just-"
"I can," the man interrupted. "And I will."
Security appeared, flanking Hunter before he could protest further.
"Get him out. Tonight."
Hunter's eyes found mine, blazing with hatred. "You'll regret this."
I didn't answer.
I couldn't stop shaking.
My savior turned back to me, removing his coat and draping it over my shoulders without asking. It smelled like pine and cold air. Like him.
"You're safe," he said.
I weakly laughed. "You say that like you know."
His mouth curved, it wasn't quite a smile. "I do."
I pulled the coat tighter around myself, suddenly aware of how close he was. Of how his presence seemed to push the rest of the world back.
"Thank you," I said stiffly. "But I don't need a saviour."
Something flickered in his eyes. Amusement, perhaps. Maybe something else.
"I never said you did," he replied. "I said you were under my protection."
Rich-man arrogance, I decided. The kind that came from never being told no. There was no other explanation for it.
I straightened, wiping my face, determined to not let another arrogant man see me cry. "I'll leave first thing in the morning."
His jaw tightened. "The storm won't allow that."
"Then I'll wait."
He studied me for along moment, then nodded his head at me. "As you wish."
But as he walked beside me toward the stairs, I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe something far bigger than heartbreak had just found me.
And this man was not a man who let go of what he chose to protect.
- Writer
